Hi,
Looks like my cousin, who's been working in Spain for the past five years and comes from a legacy systems IBM mainframe background has found himself locked out of any Mainframe jobs in the UK because of what I would call the perfect Catch-22 situation.
Namely as we all know, thanks to globalisation and the outsourcing and offshoring of many IT jobs to India, South Africa, Poland, the Czech Republic, etc. Many mainframe jobs that could be off-shored were moved to these ( low cost ) offshore areas over the past 15 to 20 years
Meaning that the only real mainframe jobs that survived offshoring in the UK were largely the British banks, Barclays, RBS, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide, etc, etc and Government departments for eg DWP up in Newcastle and of course anything defense related and here were talking of the likes of BAE Systems and Rolls Royce.
Now although he has the perfect background and experience for many of the aforementioned mainframe jobs in the UK. He cannot get a job with any of the Government departments or Outsourcing companies handling government and defense related client systems because - Candidate must have or be eligible for SC Security clearance and therefore must be resident in the UK for the past 5 years and for the Banks and financial services mainframe jobs. Preferred candidate must come from a financial services background and undergo vetting through referencing the Credit Reference Agencies and the usual Police CRB checks.
Although he can get a Police certificate from the Spanish Police, detailing he has a clean record, the Credit Reference Agency check seems to be a stumbling block for him as he hasn't been permanently resident in the UK for the past 5 years.
Which is a shame really, as he's really bright in his 30's, left University with several degrees with a wonderful family and yet he finds himself 'locked out' of any possibility' of returning to his chosen vocation ( which he's been doing in Spain ) back in the UK.
Obviously he's a permie and would dearly like to continue his career if he was ever given the opportunity in his home country but to be honest, I cannot see him ever returning back to an IBM Operations Analyst job in the UK, due to the aforementioned obstacles and so it, looks like he would have to start at the bottom & work his way up again, starting in a Help Desk or Service Desk role ( but away from mainframe of course )
Maybe the rest of you guys have come across similar - hard luck stories in your travels ?
Looks like my cousin, who's been working in Spain for the past five years and comes from a legacy systems IBM mainframe background has found himself locked out of any Mainframe jobs in the UK because of what I would call the perfect Catch-22 situation.
Namely as we all know, thanks to globalisation and the outsourcing and offshoring of many IT jobs to India, South Africa, Poland, the Czech Republic, etc. Many mainframe jobs that could be off-shored were moved to these ( low cost ) offshore areas over the past 15 to 20 years
Meaning that the only real mainframe jobs that survived offshoring in the UK were largely the British banks, Barclays, RBS, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide, etc, etc and Government departments for eg DWP up in Newcastle and of course anything defense related and here were talking of the likes of BAE Systems and Rolls Royce.
Now although he has the perfect background and experience for many of the aforementioned mainframe jobs in the UK. He cannot get a job with any of the Government departments or Outsourcing companies handling government and defense related client systems because - Candidate must have or be eligible for SC Security clearance and therefore must be resident in the UK for the past 5 years and for the Banks and financial services mainframe jobs. Preferred candidate must come from a financial services background and undergo vetting through referencing the Credit Reference Agencies and the usual Police CRB checks.
Although he can get a Police certificate from the Spanish Police, detailing he has a clean record, the Credit Reference Agency check seems to be a stumbling block for him as he hasn't been permanently resident in the UK for the past 5 years.
Which is a shame really, as he's really bright in his 30's, left University with several degrees with a wonderful family and yet he finds himself 'locked out' of any possibility' of returning to his chosen vocation ( which he's been doing in Spain ) back in the UK.
Obviously he's a permie and would dearly like to continue his career if he was ever given the opportunity in his home country but to be honest, I cannot see him ever returning back to an IBM Operations Analyst job in the UK, due to the aforementioned obstacles and so it, looks like he would have to start at the bottom & work his way up again, starting in a Help Desk or Service Desk role ( but away from mainframe of course )
Maybe the rest of you guys have come across similar - hard luck stories in your travels ?
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